Shihan Thomas White, the Grandmaster and founder of San Do Kai Karate Do passed away a couple of days ago. One of my teachers teacher. This is sad news and the passing of a generation. I used to spend hours after hours with Sifu Tom Spellman talking and learning in the dojo. Further hours driving him back and forth from Ashland to Dunsmire when we were working on the Martial Arts Radio show and listening to his stories about Shihan White. Sifu arranged for me to receive a signed copy of "3 Golden Pearls On A String" Shihan White's book. I found it inspiring and still have it.
I am painfully aware of the passing of our elders in the arts in the USA. Many of these men founded their systems in the USA. I watch my own teachers aging and still giving back to the arts. I am watching many of my childhood hero's aging and battling illness. I have been very honored over the years to have instructors who are, or who have ties to, these great people.
I grew up bullied and picked on, I was a sick little kid. I have struggled all my life with my health and my physical abilities havn't come easy. Every inch came with very hard work. It's because of these teachers that I learned to cope with life. I grew up idolizing the men in the old swashbuckler movies and in the martial arts movies. Bruce Lee, Ed Parker, Joe Lewis, Keith Haflick, Joe Corley, Jimmy Horsley, Muhamad Ali, Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone - these and others were my childhood heros.
When I was young I walked into my first school and was welcomed. A couple years later I was very fortunate to meet a young and very dedicated teacher by the name of Joe Gates who set me on a very solid foundation. A decade ago I lost my fencing teacher Michael D'Asaro Sr. - he and his wife Gay were my third, and fourth teachers. I was lucky to be in LA and get a last sabre lesson with Michael. A year later I was shocked to hear he had died from a brain annurism.
I was very fortunate to get out of trade school and meet Hanshei Jerry Piddington from whom I got my Black Belt. He introduced me - albeit from long distance or through stories to many of my hero's. And I owe him alot for bringing Sifu Tom Spellman, Sensei Robert Owens Greygrass,Sensei Gerri Rose and others into my life. Being one of Hanshei Piddingtons Black Belts is something I have considered a great honor, it puts me in a generation alongside my hero's and now my brothers in a system of second generation martial artists.... Keith Haflick died before I could meet him, Jimmy Horsley I was able to be of service to back in my dojo days.
One of my most memorable moments is being handed the great Joe Lewis home office phone number. I think I talked to him for probably half an hour. He was one of my childhood hero's. When AKANA was producing a radio talk show Hanshei Jerry Piddington and Sifu Tom Spellman and I arranged a show with him as the guest. Jerry arranged for him to call early, before us was a show with the great body builder icon Bill Pearl. Bill and Joe looked up to each other but had never met. It was very rewarding for me to know that I had helped in the connection for those two men to talk to each other. Today Joe Lewis is struggling with brain cancer. Man that he is after his first bout with the cancer he was back out teaching seminars, today he is back in the hospital. An inspiration to an entire generation or maybe more of martial artists.
Knowing Hanshei Piddington also put me in touch with one of the arts greatest promoters, the great Joe Corley. Mr. Corley has been a great resource and help over the years when I needed it, and all I ever had to do was call or e-mail, even after I was no longer working directly for Jerry Piddington.
When Matthew and John and I were first starting out in our serious studies of European Martial Arts with the rapier and ran into problems with SCA busybodies getting in our way and trying to run us out I sought out some advice. The result was a letter written to the man in charge at the Kingdom level. I provided a list of my credentials and teachers. I heard nothing for awhile. Then one night I received a phone call. The questions were immediate "How old are you?" I was in my mid 20's. "Did you really do all this stuff?" I replied that I had provided phone numbers and he was free to call those people and ask. Our problems began to go away.... And much of that drama helped to clear the path on our studies of Historic European Martial Arts and put us where we are today.
I consider myself very lucky. It is hard to watch a generation of my hero's and forefathers age and pass on. The tears come as I write this.
Many find it hard to understand, today I am nearly homeless and mostly broke. Yet I continue to try and run a business with my friends passing on our studies.... and it has cost me money rather than made me any. Not all things are about the money........
